Cindy Knoke

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Playing with Channel Island Foxes!

Oh my! Somedays are just OH my days. I have seen about five foxes in my life, in Alaska, Canada, Wyoming and The Holler. I was on Santa Cruz Island before and saw the Channel Island foxes, a very unusual species that live only on the Channel Islands, no where else in the world, but I wasn’t really taking photos then. So back I went to see them again and try and get their photos. We hiked all over stunning Santa Cruz Island, and I firmly believe that since I was seeking, I didn’t find. It was an hour until the boat left and I had already been waiting in the place I had seen them before for about an hour. Silent, still, waiting. When, at last, the first fox came out. She scuttled along this open but submerged ditch that I am guessing she built that led from her den. She was surreptitious at first, but quickly got braver.
This is the second fox. This one was bigger and I assume (with no knowledge to back me up that this was a male).
The friendly first one again.
This is the third smaller one. She (or he) got very close as long as I didn’t move a titch.
I have so many more photos of this unique species. They are 1/3 smaller than the North American Grey fox. Channel Island foxes live on 6 of the 8 Channel Islands. Each island has a separate endemic fox species.
Current thinking seems to be that these island foxes rafted over during the last ice age about 10,000- 16,000 years ago.
They are very protected here. I am speechless. They are remarkbale.
I forget to mention. Santa Cruz Island is ethereal.
Cheers to you from the rare Channel Island foxes~
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236 thoughts on “Playing with Channel Island Foxes!”

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I am so insanely jealous! I absolutely have got to find a way to get out there and see them for myself. I love foxes, and these are so amazingly beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us!

Gorgeous foxes, gorgeous photography. So real, so natural, and friendly. I use to see red and gray foxes in Connecticut in the forest preserve that was literally our backyard. I don’t know anything about foxes, except I think they are beautiful and clever. Cindy, thank you for sharing, so beautiful.

I can count my lifetime of fox sightings on the fingers of both hands, so seeing them for me is always a major thrill. We live next to a nature preserve too, but I have seen one fox here in ten years! How fortunate you were to live with them~